CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Ohio Gov. John Kasich on Thursday called Donald Trump's predictions of riots if he is denied the Republican Party nomination in Cleveland this summer "unacceptable language" that carried an "implicit support of violence."

Kasich took to Twitter to criticize Trump, who'd made the unprompted prediction during a nationally televised interview CNN on Wednesday morning. After being asked how he'd unify the party if he's selected as the nominee, Trump, the GOP frontrunner, offered a dire assessment of the consequences of the party picking another candidate.

"I think we'll win before we get to the convention, but I can tell you if we didn't, and we're 20 votes short or if we're 100 short, and we're at 1,100 and somebody else is at 500 or 400, because we're way ahead of everybody, I don't think you can say that we don't get it automatically," Trump said on Wednesday. "I think you'd have riots. I think you'd have riots."

He later added: "I think bad things would happen, I really do. I wouldn't lead it, but I think bad things would happen."

Kasich has positioned himself as a positive candidate throughout his underdog campaign, and has been reluctant to engage directly with Trump, who has hurled voluminous insults at Kasich and others throughout the presidential campaign.

Trump's comments on CNN, and the violent scuffles that broke out between protesters and Trump supporters at a canceled Trump rally last Friday in Chicago, likely have hit a nerve for Cleveland as it prepares to host the Republican National Convention, scheduled for July 18-21. The event is predicted to attract as many as 50,000 people, and what's expected to be a significant number of protesters as well.

A spokesman for Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson on Wednesday declined to comment on Trump's prediction. Cleveland's police department is one of the primary agencies that will provide security for the convention. Kasich's Ohio Department of Public Safety also is involved.

Kasich is one of three remaining candidates in the Republican presidential race. Trump is firmly in the lead, but may not reach the 1,237 delegate threshold -- a majority -- needed to clinch the nomination. Kasich has been mathematically eliminated from gaining a majority of delegates, and ranks last in the race despite getting his first win in Ohio this week. But he hopes to block Trump by siphoning off votes in the coming weeks and positioning himself to be chosen in a contested convention, in which delegates would select a nominee irrespective of how their states voted.

Asked about Trump's comments yesterday, convention spokeswoman Kirsten Kukowski said Cleveland will be safe this July.

"The democratic process is playing out across the country and if no one candidate reaches a majority of the delegates, there will be an open and transparent process in Cleveland," Kukowski said. "Either way, voters are enthusiastic about this process and we will have a safe and productive convention in July."